What is the raison d'être of luxury brands, and how are they different from general product brands? In order to elucidate the essential elements involved in luxury branding, this paper tries to interpret their value and impact on consumers and the market trends. For over a century, luxury goods have been conspicuously consumed as symbols of self-actualization, and for their emotional value to consumers. The origin of the demand for luxury goods is in a different dimension from that for basic items used in daily life. While the Japanese economy stagnated for a decade after the burst of the economic bubble around 1991, the sales of luxury brands continued to do well. Currently, luxury brands have become synonymous with areas in Tokyo and Osaka such as Ginza, Omotesando and Shinsaibashi, and also with the highest-level department stores, which have been struggling to compete with e-commerce, “fast fashion” stores, and large shopping malls. The exclusiveness of luxury brands contributes to their sales, and acts as one of the factors differentiating them from shopping malls and so on. In Japan the luxury purchasers had greatly changed. Nowadays, the customers purchasing luxury brands principally come from the wealthier social strata, with some tourists (especially from China) are also purchasing them as well. Maximizing the consumption of luxury goods by the wealthy may help rectify the acceleration of income disparities in Japan.